Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) maintains one team at two sites in Palestine. Half of the team is in the Palestinian city of Hebron/al-Khalil in the southern West Bank and half is located 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) further south in the Palestinian village of at-Tuwani.

CPT-Palestine

• Monitors treatment of Palestinians at Israeli military checkpoints and roadblocks.
• Intervenes during Israeli military invasions of Palestinian homes.
• Continues regular visits, along with Israeli peace activists, to Palestinian families facing harassment from Israeli settlers
• Provides daily accompaniment for Palestinian children walking to and from school
• Accompanies Palestinian shepherds and farmers to fields where they are exposed to assault by extremist settlers
• Joins Israeli peace groups to replant olive groves destroyed by settlers
• Joins Palestinians and Israeli peace activists in acts of public nonviolent resistance to Israel’s construction of a “security wall” which cuts through Palestinian territory.

On 23 February 2010 CPT-Palestine endorsed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement (see complete statement) “because sixty years of negotiations and diplomacy have only enabled Israel to solidify its military occupation of Palestine.

The international community has long called for Palestinian society to resist the violence of the Occupation nonviolently, so we, as members of an international peace organization, believe that when Palestinians mount nonviolent campaigns against the Occupation, we are morally obligated to support them.”

Our endorsement followed the KAIROS Palestine document, a statement from Palestinian Christians, who wrote: “These advocacy campaigns must be carried out with courage, openly and sincerely proclaiming that their object is not revenge but rather to put an end to the existing evil, liberating both the perpetrators and the victims of injustice. The aim is to free both peoples from extremist positions of the different Israeli governments, bringing both to justice and reconciliation.

In this spirit and with this dedication we will eventually reach the longed-for resolution to our problems, as indeed happened in South Africa and with many other liberation movements in the world.”

On the fifth anniversary of the call to BDS and the sixth anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on the illegality of the Wall, the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) calls on supporters of BDS “to celebrate our well-deserved achievements, to critically and rationally appraise our present challenges, and to further strengthen our collective resolve to end Israel’s … system of oppression against the Palestinian people by making it pay the price for it through our civil BDS campaigns in all fields.”

CPT-Palestine invites you to join us, Palestinians, and people from all over the world in boycotting Israeli goods and cultural events, divesting from all companies that profit from the occupation of Palestine, and pushing for international sanctions on Israel.

PARTICIPATE in the BDS movement by building the numbers in the US Campaign to End the Occupation’s “Hang Up on Motorola” campaign, in this UK campaign (alternative presentation) or in these Canadian campaign suggestions.

SHARE how and why you’re participating in the BDS movement. Email whyiboycott@gmail.com and answer these questions.  Who are you?  Where are you from?  How do you participate in BDS?  Why are you participating?  Responses will be posted here.

CPTers have started making videos answering “why do we boycott Israel?”  Submit a video to our collection.  Watch some of the videos CPTers have created and share them with your friends.  Create your own video by answering the questions above.  Videos can be short and simple.  If your computer has a webcam, YouTube can help you access the camera and make a video.  Just follow these directions. More general information on making a video is available here and here. Post your video as a “video response” to our Youtube Channel, “whyiboycott.”  Here’s how.
   
If you don’t have the time or ability to make a video, leave a comment on our YouTube Channel answering the same questions or find your own creative way to share your participation.

REMEMBER the most important way you can participate in the BDS movement is to participate in BDS campaigns and to let other people know why you are doing so.